Music reissues have been scarce over the last month or so, but our friends at various boutique soundtrack labels have worked hard to put out quality products before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us as we shine the spotlight on some of our recent favorites! Varese Sarabande has been working overtime, releasing three limited CD Club titles as well as a rarer, high-profile deluxe edition. In the latter case, it's a new deluxe edition of the soundtrack to 2014's Whiplash. The sophomore
Almost halfway through February, three soundtracks from titans of film composing have been released by the fine folks at Intrada and La- La Land Records. On Monday, Intrada's latest archival soundtrack was announced: an expansion of James Horner's score to the hit An American Tail. Directed by Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go To Heaven) and produced by Steven Spielberg, this movie--one of the few mainstream animated films of the '80s not produced by Disney--tells the story of Fievel
For its first soundtrack release of the new year, Intrada's taking fans to the stars with a definitive release of the score to Apollo 13, as composed by the late, great James Horner. Ron Howard's blockbuster drama is based on the real 1970 mission to the moon, which turned into a race back to Earth when an explosion depleted most of the crew's oxygen supplies. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton portrayed the mission's crew, and the production team maintained a strong sense of accuracy and
Even though La-La Land's traditionally generous Black Friday slate is a week away, the beloved soundtrack label isn't waiting to make you say "yippie-ki-yay" - they've reconstructed Michael Kamen's classic score to Die Hard for a definitive 3CD edition. Loosely based on Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, Die Hard casts Moonlighting star Bruce Willis in his first major film role as John McClane, a New York City cop caught in the middle of a terrorist plot on a high-rise Los
Real Gone is kicking off its April release slate with a quartet of limited edition soundtrack vinyl releases, and we've got the details for you right here. All titles are due on April 6. First up is the score to 1985's Commando which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and was directed by Mark Lester. Schwarzenegger plays Special Forces Colonel John Matrix, who is forced into a fight with a South American dictator when his daughter is kidnapped. The actor was cementing his place as one of the
While all of the Thanksgiving and Black Friday excitement was going on last week, La-La Land announced five exciting new limited-edition soundtrack reissues which are going to be available today at 12 pm PST on the label's website. First up, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is the soundtrack to Richard Fleischer's 1967 musical Doctor Dolittle. The film, based upon the character created by the Hugh Lofting in 1920, starred Rex Harrison as Doctor Dolittle, Samantha Eggar as Emma
One of comics' most underrated heroes--and one of the late James Horner's crowning score achievements--is back in flight. Intrada has reissued and expanded the score to the ambitious period superhero flick The Rocketeer. Based on the acclaimed comic by the late Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer is the story of Cliff Secord, a dashing pilot in pre-World War II California who unwittingly discovers a jetpack. He uses it to perform extraordinary and heroic deeds, but it isn't long until forces of good
A classic '50s score and four popular '90s soundtracks from three beloved composers make up La-La Land Records' exciting-as-always Black Friday announcements. This year, the label has prepped expanded reissues of Dimitri Tiomkin's Giant (1956), 25th anniversary editions of John Williams' Home Alone and John Barry'sDances with Wolves (both 1990) and two scores by the late James Horner: 1994's The Pagemaster and 1995's Braveheart. All five limited edition CD sets will be available to order on
We're deeply saddened to share the news of the tragic and unexpected death of film composer James Horner whose stirring melodies have thrilled, excited and inspired generations of moviegoers on films like Aliens, Avatar, An American Tail, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and of course, Titanic. Back on March 8, 2010, our own Mike Duquette paid tribute to the Horner legacy with a special installment of Back Tracks. In memory of Mr. Horner and his immense contributions to cinema and music, we're
As this post is being written, the Oscars have wrapped up. Exciting, right? Of course not. The Oscars are perhaps as ridiculous as the Grammys, and usually don't have a heck of a lot to offer fans of any music in general. Perhaps this year was a bit of an exception - it was very exciting to see Michael Giacchino score his first Oscar for the excellent score to Up - but for someone raised on ultra-thematic scores such as John Williams' work for Star Wars, Jaws and others, there's usually not much